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Bryan Chaffin

Bryan Chaffin is the cofounder of The Mac Observer and currently serves as Afternoon Editor. He has contributed to MacAddict and MacFormat magazines, and co-authored the last two updates of iPad and iPad Pro for Dummies with Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus and Ed Baig. You can find out more about Bryan at his personal site, GeekTells, or find his Twitter link below.

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Time Warner Pulls 12 Cable Channels from iPad App

In addition to the glint of direct revenue opportunities sparkling in the eyes of cable network execs, Dow Jones reported that the networks were also fearful of a hit to ad revenue as there are no established means of measuring viewership on an iPad. Time Warner had reported that its app was seeing high demand…

IDC Projects Windows Phone to Beat iPhone by 2015

Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform (currently Windows Phone 7) will grow markedly over the next four years to become the #2 smartphone platform by 2015, according to research firm IDC, behind Android at #1 and ahead of Apple’s iPhone, at #3. IDC believes that the alliance between Microsoft and Nokia, which has chosen Windows Phone 7…

iPhone Watch Case Costs $38K, Upgrade Path Available

The company also told The Mac Observer that customers will have an opportunity to adapt the case to the next generation of iPhones. We can hear the rousing choruses of “Hoorah!” echoing throughout…wherever it is that people who can spend $38,000 on an iPhone case hang out. We also asked De Bethune about other smartphones,…

Skype for Mac Design Contest - MacBook Air, iPad, Apple TV Prizes

The is structured in three phases, with each stage lasting three weeks. At the end of each stage two winners will be selected, one deemed a “Judge’s Choice” and the other a “People’s Choice” winner. Those six winners will then be judged in a final round where a Grand Prize winner will be chosen. Each…

RIM Sets 7” BlackBerry PlayBook at $499, Shows Specs

BlackBerry PlayBook runs a new OS called BlackBerry Tablet OS based on technology acquired when RIM bought QNX Software Systems early in 2010. The device is built from the ground up to fit into Enterprise environments, just like the company’s once market-leading BlackBerry smartphones. While the device is markedly smaller than iPad and iPad 2,…

Report: Apple Considers Licensing AirPlay Video

AirPlay allows users to to stream video and audio from iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to Apple’s own Apple TV 2, and the company currently licenses AirPlay to third party companies, but only for audio streaming. Apple has had some success with this licensing program, even though it is effectively limited to speakers and stereo…

Steve Jobs Reelected to Disney Board Despite Absences

“The Walt Disney Company considers itself fortunate to have Steve Jobs as a member of its board of directors,” the company said in a statement after the meeting, which was held today in Salt Lake City, Utah. NPR noted that Mr. Jobs’s influence at Disney has ranged from the company having many iPhone and iPad…

18 SXSW Live Recordings Now on iTunes

DOM SXSW Live The list of bands includes: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Boy & Bear, Brother, Chapel Club, Chikita Violenta, City and Colour, The Civil Wars, Dom, Glasser, Hayes Carll, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Le Butcherettes, Lia Ices, Lucinda Williams, Neon Trees, The Republic Tigers, Ryan Bingham, and Small Black. As noted, each show…

Some Amazon Appstore Apps Require Rooting, AT&T Need Not Apply

Both of these warnings/restrictions serve to nicely highlight both a weakness and a benefit in Google’s open Android platform compared to Apple’s curated “walled garden” iOS ecosystem. On the benefit side, users have an array of choices for where and how to get their Android apps. On the detriment side, those choices mean there is…

iSuppli Identifies iPad 2 Components Threatened by Japan Disaster

Some of these components are replaceable from other sources (for instance the DRAM and NAND flash memory), and some factories have reported in as not being damaged. iSuppli said, however, that even those factories that weren’t damaged are likely to experience difficulty in getting supplies, delivering finished products, or even experience employee shortages while the…

Analyst Downgrades Apple on Hon Hai Slowdown

At issue is reported growth from Hon Hai Precision, which owns Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest manufacturers. Mr. Gauna told clients in a research note that Hon Hai Precision reported growth of 84% in December, 37% in January, and 24% in February. The implication is that this slowdown in growth must reflect a slowdown in…

iSuppli: iPad 2’s Thinness Part Battery, Display, Case

The biggest change, according to iSupply, is in the batter subsystem, where Apple went from a two-cell battery to a three-cell battery. Doing so allowed Apple to eliminate an injection-molded frame used to support the old battery, and the change resulted in a battery subsytem that is a mere 2.5mm thick, a 59% decrease from…

AAPL Dips to $332 Amidst Broad Selloff

AAPL Chart for March 16th, 2011 Source: Yahoo! Finance To put the downward slide in perspective, the DOW was down 196.82 (-1.66%) to 11658.60; the NASDAQ was off 39.63 (-1.49%) to 2627.70; and the S&P 500 dropped 20.49 (-1.6%) to 1261.38. Microsoft is trading at $24.81, down $0.58 (-2.28%); Intel was down to $19.835, off…

Apple Updates Java for Leopard, Snow Leopard

Accordingly, the patch notes are somewhat…dry. To wit: Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 4 Java Available for: Mac OS X v10.6.6, Mac OS X Server v10.6.6 Impact: Multiple vulnerabilities in Java 1.6.0_22 Description: Multiple vulnerabilities exist in Java 1.6.0_22, the most serious of which may allow an untrusted Java applet to execute arbitrary…

Trip Hawkins Bags on Apple Gaming, Thinks Browser

Mr. Hawkins’s problem with Apple today is that the App Store is overcrowded. According to CNN, the gaming exec said at the Game Developer Conference last week that “[Apple has] over-encouraged supply,” and that Apple has only crated the illusion of a viable business model for game developers.Trip Hawkins, former Apple Exec, Founder of EA,…

Report: Apple Ditches Glass for Aluminum Back on iPhone 5

We offer that trail because the straight Google translation from Chinese to English leaves much to be desired, but the translation from Chinese to Japanese appears to offer better results (any of our readers that can offer some help on the translations are encouraged to do so in the comments). Nonetheless, the report, which was…

Western Digital Buys Hitachi for $4.3 Billion

WD said that it was paying $4.5 billion in cash and 25 million WD shares “valued at approximately $750 million” to Hitachi to acquire the business. Hitachi as a whole is a far, far larger company with divisions in electronics, railroads, manufacturing, and other areas. The combined company will retain the name of Western Digital…

RBC Expects (Erroneously) Android to Dominate Tablets by 2014

“While Apple’s iPad may continue to set the bar high for experience, we expect Android to dominate (40% share Tablets by 2014), given its broader support from OEMs and carriers and expected budget-priced Android Tablets from Asia,” Mr. Abramsky wrote in a research note to clients obtained by Boy Genius Reports. Innovation & Cheap Competitors?…

Nielsen: Android Wining OS Battle, Apple/RIM Winning Hardware

From November of 2010 to January of 2011, Android devices usurped both Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry platform to take 29% of the smartphone market in the U.S. Apple is now tied with RIM for #2, each with 27% of the market. In a report, Nielsen wrote, “But an analysis by manufacturer shows RIM and…

Analyst: iPad 2 Changes “Phenomenal”

“Heading into the event,” he wrote in a research note to clients obtained by The Mac Observer, “we had no intention of upgrading our [1st generation] iPads, but after testing the new device, we may have changed our minds. The technological improvements the AAPL design team made to the iPad 2 in just approximately 12…

Steve Jobs Declines UK Speaking Invite, Denied Knighthood

OK, we have to stop ourselves right there, because even had Mr. Jobs been granted a knighthood, he could not have called himself Sir Steve – a technicality reserved for subjects of the Queen. He could, however, include the initials OBE after his name, signifying that he is an honorary member of the Order of…

AAPL Rally Brings Stock Back to $348

Source: Yahoo! Finance On Friday, the stock closed at $348.16, up $5.28 (+1.54%), on light volume of 13.5 million shares trading hands. The gains occurred amidst a broad rally, with all three major U.S. indices ending the day higher. The DOW ended the day at 12130.45, up 61.95 (+0.51%); the NASDAQ closed at 2781.05, up…

Apple Releases Shareholder Vote Totals

The Board Under the rules in place when the votes were cast (see below), shareholders were given the chance to vote for a board member or abstain, a system that all but insures that the company’s slate of candidates are insured, especially with the requirement that they receives only a plurality of the vote, not…

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